


Duty

by cat_77



Category: Old Kingdom - Garth Nix
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-24
Updated: 2011-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-28 01:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/302111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cat_77/pseuds/cat_77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sabriel believes she has a duty.  Touchstone would like to argue the point.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Duty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [echoinautumn (maybetwice)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maybetwice/gifts).



> Written as a Yuletide Madness treat for Echoinautumn.  
> 
> 
> * * *

"Sabriel, no." He said it as definitively as he knew how, not that it usually mattered.

She pouted, not that she would ever call it that and not that he dared ever say to her face. "It's a couple of Hands, nothing more," she insisted. "I have taken on far worse in far more awful conditions, there is no reason for me to stop now."

But there was a reason, a very important reason, a reason she seemed quite intent to ignore. "I daresay you have never quite taken anything on in our current condition," Touchtone said. He would likely pay for it later, or possibly even now, but she needed to hear it and she needed to know it was from someone she loved and someone who loved her back, and definitely not from someone with ulterior motives or intentions.

Sabriel crossed her arms before her and was forced to look down at the very reason she was attempting to ignore when things did not sit quite right. The bulge of her stomach was no longer just a gentle rounding, and there was no way for her to hide just how very pregnant she was. "I am still quite capable of handling myself," she protested.

"The kingdom needs its queen, and her heir, to be safe," Touchstone tried.

"And I will be!" she insisted. "It is couple of Hands, nothing more."

Touchstone shook his head. "It is never just 'a couple of Hands' and you know it."

She at least looked a little contrite when she mumbled, "There may also possibly be a rogue necromancer controlling the Hands."

He had expected as much, but simply raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"And Yestial suspects a Mordaunt as well," she reluctantly added.

He thought he may have finally gotten through to her about the absurdity of the situation when she dropped her hands with a sigh. Right up until she reached for her blue tunic and the bandolier of bells. "Sabriel..." he warned.

She purposefully ignored him and said with false cheer, "So you can see it should be no problem at all as I have faced far worse before."

He had a thousand and one arguments in his head to use against her, some of which may have even been successful, but found not a word was needed when the clasps of the tunic did not quite meet. She tugged and she pulled and shifted this way and that, but the fabric just would not give. She glared in his general direction and reached for the bandolier anyway, only to find she could not quite sling it into place as she usually would, the loose tunic and the growing life within her standing in her way.

"Not a word," she warned.

"Oh, there will be words," he said with the same false cheer she had so recently shown. "There will be words like 'crossing into Death cannot be good for an unborn child,' and 'we have guards and trained Charter Mages for a reason,' and 'I love you, you stubborn sod, so sit this one out and let others do the job they were trained to do until you are able to do it again.'". He stepped forward and kissed her furrowed brow, her Charter Mark lighting softly with the touch.

"I should be able to do it now," she protested. She sunk a little into his embrace though, and he knew he had achieved one of his rare victories. "I am not infirm, just..."

"Just carrying our future, our kingdom's future, our family's future," he finished for her, punctuating each point with another kiss.

"My duty is to challenge Death," she told him.

He shook his head. "No," he countered. "Your duty is to protect Life."

And for once, she had no argument for that.


End file.
